New Barnes & Noble NOOK revealed before launch

We all know that tomorrow, Barnes & Noble will be introducing a new NOOK at their special event, but it looks like someone decided to leak details of the new eReader today. The folks over at CNET received some information from a tipster, detailing the specs of the new NOOK. According to the tipster, the new NOOK is a “squat, black, touch-screen e-ink reader that has been profusely speculated about in recent weeks.”

Apparently the tipster got the information based on promotional signage that will be on display in stores. The new NOOK is going to be called “The Simple Touch Reader” and will cost $139: the same price as the Kindle WiFi. The tipster also mentioned that the prices of the “1st Edition” WiFi and 3G+WiFi NOOK eReaders will drop to $119 and $169 respectively.

CNET also speculates that the reader will have the same 6″ Pearl E-ink display that the Kindle uses, and will have Neonode’s “zForce” infrared touch technology found in the latest Sony Readers and the recently announced Kobo WiFi Touch Edition. It might also be running on the same Freescale i.MX508 processor and will come with 1 or 2GB of internal memory as well as an additional microSD expansion slot.

It’ll only be a day until we find out whether the tipster hit the nail on the head, but if these specs turn out to be accurate, would you be interested in picking up a new “The Simple Touch Reader”? (What a mouthful! Expect it to be shortened to TSTR if that indeed turns out to be the name of the device).